Time?

[KiaTia]

Ok what is the longest amount of time you have ever spent on one Cub Scout car? I think my last build I did took me two weekends the car looked great but was lacking in speed.

[john4840]

My son I start ours in about October. It hard to keep his attention, he is ADDHD, and we work on the car a little bit at a time. Buy the time of our PWD in the middle of January the car will be done.

John

[sporty]

Ya had to ask !


A few years ago, we were putting in about 60 to 80 hours per car. But we did 10-12 cars. So allot of hours.

This was before we got a timer, but had a track.

When we got the timer, this really sped up the amount of time we put into a car. The time dropped down to like 10-20 hours per car.


Then as we got better with now having a timer and was able to learn to repeat everything well. Now we spend about 3 to 5 hours on a car.

Here is a current ruff tme break down for you. But keep in mind, this came with time and lots of building and the timer. before it was just running cars against one another and seeing which ones were faster and many runs were needed and often hard to judge or tell, unless there was big differances between the cars.

High skill level-

1- wood, drill axle wholes, cut wood. 20 minutes.

2-sand and shape wood. 15-20 minutes.

3- axle prep - 30 minutes, 4 axles.

4- wheel prep- 30 minutes.

5-tuning, 20 -30 minutes.

6- paint / monokote, 1 hour total time invested.

Thats graphite car, other cars take much more work and time.

Unless you are at my level, then 10-20 hours easily, as I mentioned, we are 80 hours there a few years ago per car.

I know people who put in 100 to 120 hours.

[stang68]

20 or so hours on one last year,had it on the track testing a few day after building it,dropped it,stepped on it,took about 10 hours to build a replacement.

[PWD]

We have building cars for 13 years. Over time we have become much more efficient and now build a car in a few hours versus days. We have made different jigs and devices to make building a car much faster.

For example, I have machined aluminum stock into the different sizes we need for measuring things like wheel placement, etc. This is for basic location. So my son does not need to measure but instead use the proper piece of stock that is labeled and marked for purpose. For sanding and polishing the axles I machined a piece of stock to hold the sand paper. Makes it a breeze for polishing axles.

Also if you have a lot of tools it really speeds things up. Especially table sanders. So

- Measuring. Stock cut to size
- Drill axle holes. This is something that everyone has their own technique. We have an efficient technique
- Cutting block. Bandsaw with fence. Makes it quick
- We have a large disc sander. Thing is awsome and quick for shaping. Plus we have a table belt sander. Little tougher
to control the wood with it. My son has let it go a few times and the car goes flying. Kind of dangerous
- Tuning. Is quick with tunning table setup for drift and then couple pieces of track for additional tuning

Well you get the idea. I have six boys so investing in a efficient setup made sense for me when we started on PWD with the first boy.

[Stan Pope]

Here is a totally different take:

How much time can the two of you stand to spend together learning and doing?

How long can son maintain interest at one time?

Can you help him plan the work in small steps which each show observable progress?

Ideally, this could extend to weeks or, even, months!

[PWD]

How long can son maintain interest at one time?

This has always been a challenge. Kids want immediate gratification. I do hope the experience and patience needed will get embeded in the kids and later in life, if they do become engineers, that they will remember what was necessary to build a fast car. There are few exercises for a kid growing up that are like being an engineer later in life then pinewood derby building. Focusing on a number of details that put all together get you the result you are looking for. But it takes a certain personality. Ability to focus on a problem for an extended period of time. Only happy if you understand the solution. That is why we have focused on what we are doing and why. Focus less on just because. This forum has always been really helpful for me to help explain things that sometimes I just don't understand why.

[sporty]

The best tip i can give is, 15 to 20 minutes. really its 5 to 10 minutes.

which works great to do your car in little time spurts with them. over a few weeks. 1 time a day or every other day.

I usually say, hay I need your help for a few minutes and they come help for a few.


Sporty

[zeezop]

At our pack the cars are usually handed out as Christmas presents during the last meeting in December. Then we usually spend a bit of time each day during the 2 weeks holidays to design and build the shell of the car, then additional w/e, evenings for painting, wheels, axles, tuning, etc. Pretty much time the end of the build to finish 2 weeks before the scheduled race. It also depends on the design; slab cars would be quicker to build, but my kids are not interested in making slab cars and as a result the design process can take many sessions. As we work on the design I let the child know how long the process would be, so they get to decide on the complexity of their car, fancier car equals more time and dedication.

We always spend the first part of any session explaining/reviewing the safety rules of each tool and we usually only cover one part of the building process per session. Several small bits instead of a cram session. We probably fall under the "months" category.

Note: There is an instructional video available where the author, with 30 years experience, creates a "World Class Pinewood Derby car in less than 45 minutes."

[sporty]

Note: There is an instructional video available where the author, with 30 years experience, creates a "World Class Pinewood Derby car in less than 45 minutes."

Have you seen the video ? I have not. But I have heard that some prep work was missing from the video. Wheels and axles.

But since I have not seen the video, I can not confirm what I heard about the video, if that was true or not, that some parts were already prepped.


If you have seen this video, can you provide if that is true or not ?


Sporty

[habcdb]

Yep, Wheels and axles were already prepped. I have watched the video. No paint either.

[sporty]

Yep, Wheels and axles were already prepped. I have watched the video. No paint either.

Thanks for confirming what I had heard.

Prepping bsa axles and wheels take time, So that is a factor to keep in mind, when thinking about a 45 minute time frame.


The best I can do from start to finish, with prepping axles and wheels is around 2 hours, monokote covering of the wood.

If i have prep prepped axles and wheels, then 30-45 minutes is a real time for advanced builders.


With the scout doing a portion of the work, time certainly increases and always recommend segments of time for them.

Sporty

[habcdb]

Some of the paints require 48 hours or even more before re-coating, so you need to factor the time in for the paint to cure. I have not read all of the comments above, so sorry if I duplicated. I have had some cars take a full week to cure hard enough to keep from messing the paint up.

[Stan Pope]

How long can son maintain interest at one time?

This has always been a challenge. Kids want immediate gratification.

That is the point of the third question: Can you help him plan the work in small steps which each show observable progress?

[zeezop]

Note: There is an instructional video available where the author, with 30 years experience, creates a "World Class Pinewood Derby car in less than 45 minutes."

Have you seen the video ? I have not. But I have heard that some prep work was missing from the video. Wheels and axles.

But since I have not seen the video, I can not confirm what I heard about the video, if that was true or not, that some parts were already prepped.


If you have seen this video, can you provide if that is true or not ?


Sporty

No I have not, but I can guarantee I could not put a car together in under an hour, add the cub's involvement and we are easily into weeks if we rush. My advice is to start early and as a team just do a bit at a time. I have used this method with 5 cubs over 10 years so far and have yet to hear "I'm bored". As many others have said, you get out what you put into it.